RTW 2024 Carefree Travel

  Today, we hit Sri Lanka - for the geographically challenged, that's the small teardrop-shaped island off the south-eastern coast of India - formerly known as Ceylon. It's an island of 22 million people and many cultures. The main group is the Sinhalese, who comprise about 70% of the population, the Tamils (just over 20%), and then everyone else! Between 1987 and 2009, a civil war raged between the Tamils in the North of the island and the mainstream Sinhalese in the South. Now, society has been mostly integrated, and you see street signs in THREE languages - Sinhalese, Tamil, and English. About 3,000 years ago, Sri Lanka was culturally and physically united with India, and ancient scriptures tell of a land bridge that existed between the two areas up until 1480 when a couple of cyclones deepened The Gulf Of Mannar and destroyed the limestone shoals that made up the bridge. There are still areas which are only 3-4 feet deep. European history involving SL starts with the Port...

Quick Post: Another sea that my geographically challenged brain has never heard of! The Andaman (or formerly Burma) Sea lies between the eastern coast of Thailand, the southern coast of Myanmar, and the Nicobar Islands to the east. It's a marginal sea, meaning it's on the edges of a large ocean—in this case, the Indian Ocean. We set sail from Phuket, Thailand, yesterday and are moving almost due west, threading between the Nicobar Islands to arrive in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Andaman was created about 3-4 million years ago due to tectonic plate activity, and the area is still geologically active. In fact, the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami impacted a sizeable chunk of it as the sea is relatively shallow. Some of the Nicobar Islands were shifted by as much as 100 feet, and others were split in two. There have been six major earthquakes ( > 8.4 ) in the past 250 years, the last in 2007. Hydrologists love the area as the Nicobar and the Andaman Islands funnel waters between the Indian ...

The area around what we call Thailand has been inhabited for a long, long time.  Homo Erectus - Lampang Man was here a million years ago. There were extensive Stone Age settlements 40,000 years ago, and also cave/rock dwelling fishermen starting from 15,000 years ago. One of the cradles of humanity.  Our destination, Phuket, is an island, and more on that later. Mainland Thailand was part of the Maritime Jade Route, a large trading route that lasted 3,000 years from 2000 BC to 1000 AD. (The people also dealt in copper and bronze.) The earliest record of a structured political civilization is the city of Funan in 400 BC. So Thailand has a LOT of history. One thing you learn when speaking with Thais is that they're proud of the fact that they were never colonized or invaded in over two millennia. There were a few close calls with the Burmese, Vietnamese, and, of course, the Europeans, but Thailand remained its own country through all that - which means its language, culture, and...

  Penang got started in 1786 when the British East India Company agreed to pay the local Sultan 8000 Spanish pounds in exchange for the rights to establish a trading port. The port was named Georgetown (after King George III), and the island Prince Edward Island (after his son). The locals called the island Palau Pinang (Bitter Nut Island). The Brits, showing their usual inability to comprehend foreigners, heard “Penang”. .. and the name stuck .. so that's the history of Penang in a nutshell. But, let's crack on and learn more. Some additional payments (bribes) to the Sultan allowed the area to become part of the Straits Settlement (Malacca, Singapore, and Penang). However, Light acted without the full authority of the BEIC, and tried to renege on the deal. The Sultan attempted to use his military to regain his territory but was repulsed by Light and additional British forces. By 1792 there were 10,000 inhabitants of the city, now established as a freeport, and it continued to ...

Kuala Lumpur means "muddy confluence" in Malay, as it’s situated between two rivers. Back in the 1850s, a bunch of Chinese miners went upriver in search of tin. Despite malaria and an 80% death rate, they started mining. Traders arrived to service the miners, and the town was born .. so today it is the 6th most visited city in the world (maybe because petrol/gas is $1.50 a gallon) But there is more to the history than that simple story from 1857. Those t wo traders from  Lukut , Hiu Siew and Yap Ah Sze,  arrived in Kuala Lumpur to set up shops to sell provisions to the miners.  Kuala Lumpur was the furthest point up the Klang River, where supplies could conveniently be brought by boat, so it became a natural collection and dispersal point serving the tin mines. The entire town then formed around these two traders, and more Chinese, Malays, and Indians arrived. Roads were built, temples were built, and more shops were built - the city rapidly expanded.  In 1874, Sulta...

  Three of Singapore's most iconic sights are the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) resort, Gardens By The Bay (Super Trees and Cloud Dome), and the Flyer. Here's a little bit of history and some pictures of each. 1/ The Marina Bay Sands. This structure is visible from many parts of the city. Opened in 2010, it is the world's most expensive standalone casino. It possesses over 2,500 rooms, a huge 120,000 m2 convention center (I've taught and given a keynote there in the past), and a massive shopping center. The cherry on top, so to speak, is the Sands Skypark. That boat-like thing that sits atop the three towers. It's over 1100 feet long and technically has a capacity of almost 4,000 people. It's centered around a 500-foot infinity pool, offering a majestic view of Singapore - if you can beat your way through the Japanese tourists taking pictures with selfie sticks. Actually that no longer happens, the stick were banned a few years ago - there is now just a mass of humanit...

Singapore.  Crazy Rich Asians, right? You'll see many of the iconic locations in the photos below. But Singapore is way more than that. Ever since I first came here in 2011, it's been one of my absolute favourite cities in the world. I jokingly call the island city-state a benevolent dictatorship, even though it is a multi-party democracy with free and fair elections. The PAP (Peoples Action Party) has governed the country since self-government started in 1959 - and currently holds 59 out of 75 seats in parliament.  The country is a model of efficiency. For example, you can arrive at Changi Airport, deplane, and within 20 minutes, you are through customs and immigration, have your bags, and are in a taxi downtown. The subway system, known as the MRT (see left), is in my opinion, the cleanest, fastest, safest, and most efficient in the world. Crime and drugs are almost non-existent, and littering is a crime punishable by a 400 SGD fine ($300 USD). The highest tax rate is 20% an...